Medical marijuana proposal merits discussion

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan has been in favor of legalizing marijuana in the state - especially for medicinal use - for years and has introduced bills to do so in the past. He's doing so again - with a two-pronged approach this time - but he has to know that the chances for a Republican-dominated Legislature to jump on the legalization bandwagon is slim.

Even dangling the possibility of a 15 percent sin tax on the sale of recreational marijuana isn't likely to attract fiscal conservatives to Hagan's cause.

Hagan also is offering a joint resolution that would place an issue on the ballot to allow adults "to legally purchase, cultivate and use cannabis recreationally." That proposal, modeled after a recently passed amendment in Colorado, would create state-licensed outlets and tax sales at 15 percent.

We see two key arguments against wholesale legalization. One is that no matter what the states do, marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

The other is that, unlike alcohol and many other drugs, tests to show marijuana impairment are far from exact science. A company has a right to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free workplace. The casual use of marijuana shows up in blood tests for as much as a month. Although an employee can claim he or she was unimpaired from marijuana use in the somewhat distant past, a company would have no choice but to discipline or terminate the employee who failed a screening.